Chapter 71

71

What Daniel was saying was overwhelming. Powell was trying to make sense of it. They'd found sixteen DNA samples on Heather's clothes that corresponded to Heather's family—or Powell, Alex, and Mac. Alex had apparently touched that sweatshirt at some point. While Cara had been wearing it. Mac…Mac's DNA had gotten on Heather when he'd held her up outside the hospital.

It made Powell sick to even think about what Heather had gone through after Powell had left her behind. Literally sick.

It took everything she had to keep from losing what little she had eaten that day as the Colesons discussed the sheer amount of DNA on that sweatshirt. In great detail.

Powell had never experienced anything like a conversation with the Colesons all at once. It was insane. Somehow, it turned into a lengthy conversation about DNA and germs and theories. Powell was definitely not keeping up today.

Daniel was getting to the hard part. It was on his handsome face. And she saw knowledge of that in Haldyn's face, too, as her bestie on the planet looked at the reports in her hand. Haldyn had that look, the one that said she was thinking. Haldyn had kind of a scary mind, no denying that.

"Okay, before we get too deeply into what brought you all here," Bonnie said suddenly, standing with Miguel Rodriguez's sweet little toddler in her arms. "Heather Holly needs a break. And this baby girl needs a diaper change."

No one argued with Bonnie—Powell had caught on to that fast. If Bonnie said Heather needed a break, Heather was getting a break. Period.

They shuffled babies around until Alex somehow ended up with the still-sleeping Ember, who had woken long enough to take a small bottle and get changed.

Powell just watched for a moment as her brother cuddled a baby like he'd done it a million times.

Something she knew definitely hadn't happened often.

He really did seem to be inching his way into the Colesons. Like he almost belonged there, or something. Cara sat on the floor next to him. She'd just ended up there, somehow. Like it was where she belonged too.

"I need to check on my monsters, as well. Make sure Maris hasn't been driven insane yet. That girl has nerves of steel, that one," Joy said, standing. "Heath, I'll check on Frankie."

Just like that, Colesons started moving around. Except for Heather and Hope, who were ordered to stay put under threat of Bonnie's wrath if they moved. With Miguel standing guard over them both.

Powell listened as her brothers and Gunnar, Daniel, Jarrod, Murdoch, Zoey and Haldyn and Hope made small talk. She was just so tired. All she wanted to do was sleep. But she forced herself to keep her eyes open.

"There's a quilt on the couch behind you if you're chilled. One of Marcia's, she does beautiful work," a soft voice said next to her. She turned.

Heather was there in the corner of the couch next to the loveseat. They had multiple couches and chairs in the room. It made it feel very welcoming.

Powell shifted closer, laying her head on the armrest of the loveseat between them. Her eyes met Heather's. "I want to stay awake for this. I am not sure what's going on."

"I am not either. But there was something found on my shirt that they think is important. I want to know what it is. I want to know who they were. Then maybe I'll be ready to sleep, Powell. When I know. "

Powell nodded. She understood.

She was never going to forget what had happened. Not…ever.

And it had been so much worse for Heather. "I'm sorry I left you behind."

"Don't you ever say that again. You didn't leave me behind. I don't want you to ever think you did. You went when I told you to, exactly as I told you to go. And it worked. There is a difference," Heather said firmly, quietly. "We used our heads and did what we had to do. You didn't just run off and abandon me, Powell. It wasn't like that. Not at all. We both know we couldn't have gotten away together."

Powell tried to protest. But Heather gave her that look. That look moms everywhere had to have patented.

Heather really was scary when she gave that look.

"They would have chased us down and caught us both again. There were just too many of them at that moment. The only reason I got away was because they moved me someplace even less secure. Your escape caused them to panic. And I couldn't have made it under that garage door like you did. There wasn't time for both of us. But you getting away flustered them. That is why I was able to get away. They weren't very smart. It worked out the way it was supposed to—the way I suspected it would. I'm really trying hard to believe life happens the way it is supposed to lately. Considering."

She looked down at her baby. Ember was sound asleep against Alex's chest. Drooling everywhere. "You can put her in the playpen, you know. She'll sleep through it."

"I know. But I'm practicing that whole being an uncle thing like I've seen Norm doing," Alex told her. "I have her for now. She is about all that's keeping me from going hunting for the assholes that put those bruises on your gorgeous face and took my baby sister. I need…to hold the good in life close for a little while."

"I can understand that. She's beautiful in every way." They looked at the baby together. "Her tooth finally came in. While I was gone. It is her first."

And Heather had missed that milestone with her baby. Knowledge of that was on her face.

"Is it fang-shaped?" Mac asked quietly. Powell didn't even know when he had ended up sitting there, right next to Heather. "Considering, genetics being what they are and everything."

"Maybe," Heather looked at him. "Thanks, Barratt, by the way. For…the hospital."

There was something different in the way they looked at each other. Powell just watched. Nothing felt right now. It just didn't.

"Hey, baby, I just gave you a lift. You did the hard part and arrived in time to help me look all heroic and manly and everything. Thank you, by the way. For the save. Taking care of her out there. She might be very Powell-y and everything. But she's our Powell, and we adore her completely. Thanks for what you did."

"Second that," Alex said. "Owe you for life for this one."

"Hey, boys, you missed the memo," Heather told them, her hand wrapping around Powell's. Powell resisted the urge to cling. "Powell and I did it together. We both got out of there. Some of them didn't. We're back with our families, where we belong. And that is what matters most. Not how it happened, but that it did. "

"How do you not be so…angry?" Powell asked suddenly. "I feel so damned mad, Heather. For all of it. And my guard? Is Keith even going to be okay? No one has told me."

"He's still in critical," Heather said quietly. "I asked Joy to check for me today. But he's being upgraded in the morning. He's going to pull through. As for the anger thing—I'm still working my way through that myself, honestly. I probably will be for a long time. The rest of my life, maybe. But…I'm hoping I'll get there eventually." She looked at Zoey, where she was just visible talking to Bonnie in the side parlor off the music room. "One thing Bonnie taught me twenty years ago…sometimes, you just have to take it one day at a time, don't think about anything else but that one day, and then when you look up, you've made it to the other side. I'm still trying to figure that out."

Heather had had a lot of pain in her life from a very young age. But she just kept going too. Powell didn't know if she'd be able to be that strong. She just nodded. She didn't know what to say. Not at all. "I just don't know what I am supposed to do next. Everything feels broken and sideways."

"That's…the trauma at work. It distorts things, puts the world through an altered kind of lens. Concentrate on that one-day thing. And remember that one day soon, you'll have one of these to focus on too. They change your entire world. Make it seem brighter. Better. And," Heather gave a slightly wicked, slightly lopsided grin. "Have lots of fun getting Gunnar naked in the meantime before the kid gets here. I think you both deserve that, don't you?"

"Hey! Innocent big brothers, here," Mac said. He reached down and lifted the baby from Alex's arms when Alex shifted. Then it was Mac holding Ember like it was the most natural thing in the world. "There are things I don't want to think about. I prefer to believe my future nephew or niece was spawned by aliens, too, you know. That is what works best for my mental state, okay?"

Gunnar came back, settled next to Powell on the loveseat. It felt like he was right where he belonged too.

She wanted to cuddle right up to his side and stay there forever.

For a moment, Powell felt safe again. Like the world hadn't been completely destroyed in those horrible moments. She was back with the man she loved. And back with her brothers. And her parents. Her family.

Safety was all an illusion. She knew it. But it was enough to give her hope. She could get through this. She would figure things out with Gunnar, and they would be parents in September. She was just going to focus on that.

And do the one day at a time thing like Heather said.

Somehow.